Detroit – It’s hard to take solace in anything short of a win these days, given the deep hole the Tigers are trying to fight their way out of.
“Right now I’m pretty pissed off about it,” said Casey Mize, who despite pitching another strong game found himself on the wrong end of a 4-3 loss to the East Division-leading New York Yankees at Comerica Park Tuesday night. “We have to win games. I always play that way. I always play for the box score and it’s good for everyone to realize the box score does matter.
“Especially when wins are all we need right now. It’s hard to be happy about much else.”
The line between exhilaration and exasperation can be so thin sometimes.
Mize was cruising along, protecting a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. With one out, slugger Paul Goldschmidt topped a ball four feet up the third base line. Mize got to it quickly, but Goldschmidt beat it out for a single.
Next up was Jazz Chisholm, Jr., and it looked like Mize struck him out with a 1-2 four-seam fastball on the inside black. Home plate ump Alex MacKay called it a ball. Catcher Dillon Dingler challenged. It was a ball by a fraction.
“Something small like that between these teams,” manager AJ Hinch said. “Jazz took the pitch. Ding thought he got a good look at it. It was barely a ball, barely a strike.”
BOX SCORE: Yankees 4, Tigers 3
Two pitches later, Mize left a slider up just enough for Chisholm to launch it into the seats in right-center.
“It’s 3-2 so I want to be in zone with it,” Mize said. “Normally I try to white-line it on the away line. On 3-2, you’re not trying to be as perfect. You want to throw a strike, but I definitely pulled it in too much and he hit it well.”
The Yankees tacked on one more in the sixth on a double by Austin Wells off reliever Tyler Holton, leaving a four-run smudge on Mize’s ledger, despite another strong outing.
“Pretty frustrating to see four runs when I felt like I might’ve pitched better than that,” he said. “If I pitch the way I did tonight and feel the way I did tonight, over the long haul we’re going to have better results than we had tonight. But when you are feeling good and you feel like you got it, you want to capitalize on those days.”
The Tigers fought back, as they do.
Dingler, who had three hits, and Matt Vierling whacked back-to-back doubles against lefty Carlos Rodon to start the bottom of the sixth to cut the Yankees’ lead to 4-3.
With one out, Yankees manager Aaron Boone went to his bullpen, bringing in right-hander Fernando Cruz.
That allowed Hinch to activate his left-handed pinch-hitters. With two outs, Kerry Carpenter walked and Colt Keith got ahead 3-0 before grounding out to first base.
Exhilaration, exasperation.
“We like to insert those guys in the biggest moments,” Hinch said. “Carp walked and that might have let him off the hook. Cruz was spraying it, maybe he hangs a splitter and Carp puts a swing on it like Jazz did. But Colt went three balls to a ground out. Before that, Tork (Spencer Torkelson) went three balls to a punch-out.
“We were a pitch or two away from changing the complexion of the game.”
Those lefties came around again in the ninth against Yankees closer David Bednar and he impressively dispatched Carpenter, Keith and Zach McKinstry to close it out.
The loss dampened but certainly didn’t ruin the Major League debut of right-handed hitting outfielder Ben Malgeri. He singled on the first pitch he saw and singled again in the seventh, both hits were to right field.
“My excitement level was through the roof,” Malgeri said. “Obviously it’s a big day and I was super excited to be here. But I just reminded myself it’s the same game I’ve been playing my whole life. Just go out and give my best effort.”
He ended up being doubled off first after his hit in the seventh.
Rookie Kevin McGonigle hit a sinking liner to right. Right-fielder Jasson Dominguez hesitated but made a shoestring catch and doubled Malgeri off first base.
The Tigers challenged the play, hoping that Dominguez trapped the ball. The replay was inconclusive and the initial out call stood.
“I looked up at the board,” Hinch said. “I don’t know how much resolution you have to have to see it touch a blade of grass. It was unlucky either way. Whatever way it was called, it was going to stand.”
The Tigers had a runner thrown out at the plate, which in a one-run loss (the Tigers are 9-15 in one-run games) is going to get scrutinized.
It was in the fourth inning. Riley Greene, who walked and advanced to second on a ground out, was waved home by third base coach Joey Cora on a two-out single to medium left field by Hao-Yu Lee. Lefty-swinging McKinstry was on deck.
Left fielder Cody Bellinger had the ball as Greene was getting to third base. Even though it was a 230-foot throw, it was no contest at the plate.
“It’s a long throw,” Hinch said. “Bellinger is their best arm. It’s a well-executed play by them. If it’s off a little bit, we have a good chance to score.”
The throw was a little up the line, but catcher Austin Wells had plenty of time to making the lunging tag on Greene.
“We’re going to be aggressive,” Hinch said. “We will look at all parts of that play to see if we could’ve done it a little better.”
The loss drops the Tigers to 34-45 and snaps their four-game win streak. They have a chance to win the series Wednesday with ace Tarik Skubal on the mound.
Chris.McCosky@detroitnews.com
@cmccosky
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Yankees rally to snap Tigers’ four-game win streak
Reporting by Chris McCosky, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Chris McCosky, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
